Influenza hemagglutinin and neuraminidase variants

1. An isolated polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

a) the polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:19; and

b) a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:53.

2. An immunogenic composition comprising an immunologically effective amount of the polypeptide of claim 1 .

3. An isolated polynucleotide selected from the group consisting of:

a) a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:19 or a complementary sequence thereof; and

b) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:53 , or a complementary polynucleotide thereof.

4. The polynucleotide of claim 3 , wherein the polynucleotide is DNA.

5. The polynucleotide of claim 3 , wherein the polynucleotide is RNA.

6. An immunogenic composition comprising an immunologically effective amount of the polynucleotide of claim 3 .

7. A reassortant influenza virus comprising the polynucleotide of claim 3 .

8. The virus of claim 7 wherein the virus comprises 6 internal genome segments from one or more donor viruses.

9. The virus of claim 8 , wherein one donor virus is A/Ann Arbor/6/60, or A/Puerto Rico/8/34.

10. An immunogenic composition comprising an immunologically effective amount of the recombinant influenza virus of claim 8 .

11. A vector comprising the polynucleotide of claim 3 .

12. The vector of claim 11 , wherein the vector is a plasmid, a cosmid, a phage, or a virus.

13. The vector of claim 11 , wherein the vector is an expression vector.

14. An isolated cell comprising the vector of claim 11 .

15. The virus of claim 8 , wherein the 6 internal genome segments of the one or more donor viruses are selected for comprising one or more phenotypic attributes selected from the group consisting of: attenuated, cold adapted and temperature sensitive.

16. A method for producing the reassortant influenza virus of claim 7 in cell culture, the method comprising:

i) introducing a plurality of vectors into a population of host cells capable of supporting replication of influenza viruses, which plurality of vectors comprises nucleotide sequences corresponding to at least 6 internal genome segments of a first influenza strain; and one genome segment encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:53;

ii) culturing the population of host cells; and,

iii) recovering the influenza virus.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least 6 internal genome segments of the first influenza virus strain are selected for comprising one or more phenotypic attributes selected from the group consisting of: attenuated, cold adapted and temperature sensitive.

18. The influenza virus produced by the method of claim 16 , wherein the influenza virus is suitable for administration in an intranasal vaccine formulation.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first influenza strain is an influenza A strain.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first influenza strain is A/Ann Arbor/6/60, or A/Puerto Rico/8/34.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of vectors is a plurality of plasmid vectors.

22. The method of claim 16 , wherein the population of host cells comprises one or more of: Vero cells, cells deposited under number 96022940 with the ECACC, MDCK cells, 293T cells, or COS cells.

23. The method of claim 16 , wherein the method does not comprise use of a helper virus.

24. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of vectors consists of eight vectors.

25. An immunogenic composition comprising a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:53.

26. An immunogenic composition comprising a polynucleotide encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:53.

27. The composition of claim 25 or 26 , further comprising an excipient.

28. The composition of claim 27 , wherein the excipient is a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

29. An immunogenic composition comprising the reassortant virus of claim 7 .

30. The composition of claim 29 wherein the reassortant virus is a 6:2 reassortment virus comprising 6 internal genome segments from one or more donor viruses.

31. The composition of claim 30 , wherein the 6 internal genome segments of the one donor virus are selected for comprising one or more phenotypic attributes selected from the group consisting of: attenuated, cold adapted and temperature sensitive.

32. The composition of claim 31 , wherein one donor virus is A/Ann Arbor/6/60, or A/Puerto Rico/8/34.

33. A live attenuated influenza vaccine comprising the composition of claim 29 .

34. The composition of claim 29 , further comprising one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

35. A method of prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of a viral infection in a subject, the method comprising: administering to the subject the virus of claim 7 in an amount effective to produce an immunogenic response against the viral infection.

36. The method of claim 35 , wherein the subject is a mammal.

37. The method of claim 36 , wherein the mammal is a human.

38. The method of claim 35 , wherein the virus is formulated using at least one pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.